Global News

[ad_1] Would you rather be a front-desk clerk or "Director of First Impressions"? A barber or a "Grooming Manager"? How you answer could mean a significant difference in annual earnings. That's because companies routinely inflate workers' titles to avoid paying them in full for overtime work, according to researchers from the University of Texas and Harvard Business School. It's no secret companies go to great lengths to keep their labor costs down. What the new working paper  reveals is that firms save a total of $4 billion in overtime payments a year simply by getting creative with titles. For employees, however, these inflated titles result in 13% less pay than they might otherwise get. "If you're relying on cheap labor — you're a labor-intensive company and you can get away with it — this becomes a tool that you can use to lower your costs," said Umit Gurun, professor of accounting a

[ad_1] This is an updated version of a story first published on Jan. 24, 2023. If someone steals money from their employer, they could be guilty of a serious crime. But what if an employer takes money from their employee's paychecks?  There's a good chance they'll get away with it, a CBS News investigation found.  Whether it's paying less than minimum wage, withholding tips or pressuring staff to work off the clock, so-called wage theft siphons billions from Americans' paychecks. Through extensive data analysis and interviews with local, state and federal officials, along with victims of wage theft across the country, CBS News found the systems designed to protect those workers often fail.  CBS found that even when they win their cases, inconsistent enforcement and a patchwork of local, state and federal regulations means many victims are never paid a dime, while others are left waiting months or even years for a re